How to Teach your dog to Speak on Command

Teaching your dog to speak on command is a fun party trick and is very useful from a training perspective. Anytime you put a behavior on cue, you have more control over the behavior. When you can cue your dog to bark on command, it will be much easier to stop them from barking when you want them to be quiet.

Here are the steps:

Get the desired behavior through prompting

Reward the desired behavior (Barking)

Name the behavior with a cue or command (“Speak”)

Fade out the prompt (Stop knocking on door)

Now cue the desired behavior (“Speak”)

Reward the behavior (Barking)

Tip:
Once you begin fading the prompt, the dog may not bark initially. You may have to prompt the dog several times when you start adding in the command.

Alternative Prompts:

There a few different ways to prompt your dog to bark. Here are a few examples that usually work:

Knock on the door as seen in the video. (Reward the dog when they bark)

Use your voice to howl or bark to get the dog excited in hopes that they mimic you.(Feed your dog as soon as they bark)

Tether your dog and place some food treats just out of reach. (Slide the treat to the dog when they bark)

Published on July 23, 2017

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